I have been usurped from the kitchen. The Wild Epicurean official Sous Chef has been busy creating his gorgeous Salmon Gravlax!

An absolute must in our house over the festive period. It merely requires fresh, ideally wild, salmon direct from the fishmongers. Get the fishmonger to prepare it for you by cutting the salmon in half lengthways and removing any bones. Scaling is easy at home but quite messy, so get him to do that too.

Our original salmon gravlax recipe is from Rick Stein’s, Taste of the Sea, an absolute gem of a book. My copy is dog-eared, stained, and generally very worn with a ripped cover, but I am just about to embark on his Char-Grilled John Dory with Coriander, Saffron and Kumquats. Fantastic.

Many Gravlax recipes call for gin, vodka, wasabi etc. which I’m sure are all delicious, but over the years, we seem to keep coming back to this straightforward recipe. Our only additions have been swapping some of the white peppercorns for juniper, coriander, and dill seeds. We have used black pepper, but white pepper gives the best results. We also add a little lemon zest. The cure is quite intense, but like Mr Stein, we prefer to leave it on.

This salmon gravlax marinated in dill with mustard and dill sauce goes beautifully with a peppery rocket salad, rye bread, or soda bread (made with 30 per cent rye or spelt flour) and a mustard dill sauce (mayonnaise-based flavoured with dijon, dill, and brown sugar).

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